due to a combination of stupidity on my part and other people plannig my life without telling me I now can't go to Indietracks this year.The upshot of this is that I have a booking at the Travelodge for the Saturday and Sunday night that I can't use. i got the bog standard cheap rate so can't get a refund, but it might as well be used by someone. as i say it's only for the Saturday and Sunday night (i was never going to be able to get there for the Friday night but now i can't get there for any night - familes eh, can't live eith em, can't kill em but if anyone wants it let me know. oh it's a family room so that sleeps what, 3?

Oddly, Alfreton Travelodge has been mentioned in the jubilee concert Guardian liveblog. I was there yesterday, as the Little Chef seemed an appropriate lunch stopoff point between Wakefield and Nottingham. Quite busy. And yet somehow also sad, as there wasn't a single friendly indiepop face to be seen.

I popped into Alfreton Travelodge recently for a Little Chef Sunday lunch (not especially, I was passing on the way back home), and the little atrium bit between the hotel reception and the restaurant has been renovated.

After a false start where I thought I had booked it, and then some weeks later realised the booking never went through, I am now all booked into the travelodge for 2015 (Indietracks, not all of 2015).

Having heard so many tales last year of how amazing the refurb is - with sequins on every wall, beds which can convey you to and from indietracks as well, and a bellhop cat- I am greatly looking forward to this. Obviously all those tales were true.

Due to lack of interest, I am instead going to reassemble all the furniture in the room into a fort/den, because this is a rare opportunity to do that which won't result in being told off. Possibly. As long as I use the do not disturb sign, it should be great.

I was rather impressed with the Alfreton Travelodge, it is indeed a pleasant walk (45 mins at a leisurely pace, we reckoned) to Butterley Station providing the weather was good, which it was when we did it Saturday morning. My room was a good size, the bed was proper comfy, the shower was perfectly fine. Friendly staff. The Little Chef was pretty good I thought, the speed of service seemed reasonable when we ate, they need to up their service a bit in terms of offering second cups of tea and coffee or whatever.

Getting a taxi from Butterley at the end of the night was a bit of a bugger though, especially on Sunday. Still wonder why there isn't a cab firm enterprising enough to lay on a shuttle service between the station and the Travelodge, two or three cabs running back and forth would clean up between 11.30 and 12.30.

The very good Indian restaurant in Alfreton is called Sanams, it's at 50 King St, Alfreton DE55 7DD, for future reference. Even having the waiter spill almost a whole pint of lager over me didn't dampen my enthusiasm. That was a nice way to end Saturday night (the food and company, rather than having beer liberally poured over my crotch, but having said that...)